What The If?

The BBC Spaghetti Trees!


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We celebrate APRIL FOOLS DAY by taking on one of the greatest news pranks ever, The BBC Spaghetti Tree hoax. From jokes to facts... grab your basket and let's get stuffed with delicious spaghetti science!!!
"BBC: Spaghetti Harvest in Ticino" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo_wkxH9dU -- is a famous 3-minute hoax report broadcast on April Fools' Day 1957 by the BBC current affairs program Panorama. It told a tale of a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from the fictitious spaghetti tree, broadcast at a time when this Italian dish was not widely eaten in the UK and some Britons were unaware that spaghetti is a pasta made from wheat flour and water. Hundreds of viewers phoned into the BBC, either to say the story was not true, or wondering about it, with some even asking how to grow their own spaghetti trees. Decades later CNN called this broadcast "the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled." -- from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti-tree_hoax
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Philip, Matt & Gaby
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What The If?By Philip Shane, Matt Stanley, Gabrielle Paniccia

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